I Don't Think That They'll Understand - Fransykes

Chapter Three

Josh pulled into the rest-stop, having already explained his expectations to Oliver. He looked around, making sure no one was around the picnic benches, before releasing Oli from his shackles, leading the boy to a bench as he slipped on the bracelets Josh demand he wear. "Just in case," he said.

"Here," Josh handed Oli his salad with a smile, placing the water bottle in front of the boy. Oli reluctantly picked up his fork, poking at the salad with it. Josh went right to eating, no hesitation like he saw in Oli. Oli sat there, taking small bites, and by the time Josh had finished his food, Oli was only about a fourth of the way through his salad. Josh frowned slightly, Oli soon setting down his fork and refusing to eat. "Why not?"

Oli shrugs nonchalantly, as though this were a regular thing for him, which it was. He didn't feel it was necessary to hide it from Josh, because Josh wouldn't care. After all, he kidnapped him, so why would he care about the kid he's kidnapped? Josh just let out a sigh, sensing the kid wouldn't tell him anything, and packed them up, leading Oli back inside the vehicle.

Oli drifted off to sleep, not even noticing the hunger stabbing at his stomach, the lull of the vehicle helping him drift off. He found himself surprisingly calm for the situation he was in, because, for some reason, at the current time, he really wasn't fearful that Josh would hurt him... as long as he cooperated.

*

Oli woke up and glanced around, noticing the vehicle was no longer moving, and that Josh was gone from the front seat. He decided it was probably safer to pretend to be asleep for when Josh came back, not wanting to risk anything, so he just rested his head against the seat, closing his eyes. He soon felt the vehicle shake as Josh got in, his voice soon filling the car.

"Got us food," he explained, setting the bag on the passenger side, before thinking better of himself and turning around to face Oli. "Can I trust you to eat if I untie you?" Oli didn't reply, not liking the thought of eating, with what Josh likely bought them, but after Josh's prompting, he nodded, and the older man undid his wrists before tossing the bag back beside him. "Take what you want," Josh started up the car, pulling out before checking the time, nodding to himself. He glanced back at Oli in the rearview mirror, taking a look at what he had in his hands. "Just a granola bar?" He questioned, sticking his hand out behind him for the bag. Oli handed it to him, looking down at his feet as he nibbled at his food. "Why don't you eat?"

"I'm just not hungry, okay?" The boy almost spat, watching Josh eat his sandwich with a mix of want and disgust, his potato chips and Oreos sitting beside him, bound to be eaten later. Even the small energy bar was a lot for Oli, he'd eaten more than normal in the past few days since Josh had picked him up. "This is too much already." He muttered under his breath, fiddling with the shiny plastic wrap.

"Whaddya mean?" Josh raised his eyebrows as he took another bite of his sandwich, happy to have such light traffic, as they were getting closer to their destination and he was impatient and a bit paranoid.

"I mean, this thing," he glared at the bar in his hand, "has 300 calories in it and like, 4 grams of fat. That's a lot." Half my daily limit, he thought, but would never say to anyone.

"Oh, c'mon, who cares about that stuff? Eat what makes you happy." Josh suggested, not understanding the way Oli thought.

"Yeah, well, eating too much made me unhappy in the first place so..." Oli trailed off, not wanting to give this freak too many details about his life that he didn't already know.

Josh didn't ask any questions, just proceeded on driving.